Look Up First | Pastor Chris Kouba | United City Church

That we are relaunching the Step Up Podcast.

I've done two seasons so far of the Step Up Podcast designed specifically for men.

And so we are launching season three coming up this coming Tuesday.

And so, therefore, if you uh subscribe to that on either any of the places that you get podcasts, whether that be uh Apple, whether that be Spotify, whether that be YouTube, uh make sure to subscribe so that you can listen in.

Uh, we're certainly excited.

We release these every other Tuesday.

Uh, they're messages that are meant just to help you grow as a man.

What does it look like for you uh to be able to step up in your life, in your faith, in your family, in your work, school, wherever it is that you are?

Uh, join us for the Step Up Podcast, a way to help uh you mend.

Colossians chapter three is where we're gonna be spending some time today.

June 1st, 2002.

A beautiful young lady uh from Dallas, Texas, uh named Hilary Valentine Haynes walked into the back of a church in downtown Dallas.

Uh, and when she walked in, she had uh on a wedding dress that she had picked out with her sisters and with her mother.

Uh, and she came in, the door swung open, and everybody stood up as she walked in the room.

I was standing at the end of the aisle, and I'd love to tell you that I was super strong and tough and just stood there and was just did everything.

I immediately wept the moment that I saw her.

Uh I I've been waiting for this.

I've been, I'd wanted this day to come.

Uh, I'd wanted to marry Hillary, and now we were just seconds away from it taking place.

Her dad walked her down the aisle.

He answered the question, Who gives this woman to be married to this man?

He said, Her mother and I.

We then walked up onto the stage, and a pastor began to make us face each other, and we began to repeat vows to each other.

We made promises to each other.

We exchanged rings, symbolizing the commitment that we were making in that moment.

And then he said the words I now pronounce you husband and wife.

He turned us around and he said to the crowd, I have the privilege to be the first to present to you Mr.

and Mrs.

Chris Cuba.

And then we walked out arm in arm outside of those doors.

Hillary walked in as Hillary Haynes.

The same girl walked out as Hillary Cuba.

One declarative sentence changed everything.

Now, my name didn't change that day, but let me tell you something.

My reality did in every single way.

In fact, it's wild to think that in one sentence our status changed, but we realized really quickly the first couple years of marriage.

Oh, we have no idea what we're doing.

All right.

Maybe you've experienced that whenever you got married, and it's exciting because now you're married.

Maybe you take on a brand new identity, a brand new name.

But what we discovered is oh, wait, we are two people who are trying to figure out what it looks like to live together.

We are two people trying to figure out what it means to share a life and an apartment together.

And I remember looking at this ring, and this ring did two things.

One, it told everybody else, and the ring that she wore told everybody else that we are taken, that we have been claimed by that other person.

And that ring also told us, we're here for good.

We can't get out of this thing.

All right.

And there were times early on when we needed that visible reminder because I'm telling you, I'd have thought, this is not worth it.

This is hard.

This is difficult.

I realized rather quickly that I am a selfish person.

And when you're married, you don't get to act like a selfish single person that you were before you got married.

Your whole life changes in that moment.

But what I want you to see is this we didn't act married so that one day we could be married.

We became married and then are still trying to figure out what that looks like on the back side of it.

Hillary would tell you, I'm still learning what it means to be married even today.

All right?

Here's why I bring all this up to you.

A lot of us relate to God in the opposite order.

What we think is it works like this.

If you get your act together, if you clean up your life, eventually God will claim you as his.

And you have been exhausted trying to live a life of impressing God or at least not making him too mad at you.

And what you're realizing is that it doesn't lead to any kind of lasting change.

But what I want you to know is this if you follow Jesus, something has happened to you that is more permanent than a wedding.

You got a new name and a new identity.

And now your responsibility is to spend the rest of your life living out of the identity that has already been established instead of trying to earn an identity that you don't think yet that you have.

Here's the question I want you to sit with this morning.

What if the most important thing has already happened to you and you're still learning to live like it?

I think that question hits differently depending on who you are in the room.

For some of you, you've been trying to clean up your life for years and you're tired of feeling like you haven't made any ground.

Some of you know this to be true, but you don't ever think about it.

You never once came up on your radar this past week.

Some of you are here, and if you're honest, you may say this, you know, I'm not sure anything like that's ever happened to me.

I've never had a moment like a wedding when all of a sudden things have radically changed in my life.

And I would tell you, if that's you, I'm gonna get to you in a minute.

And I want you to know that your life can be changed today.

Um, regardless of where you are, though, what I want you to see is in Colossians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul writes to people just like us.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

He's writing a letter to a church at Colossae that he's never actually visited before.

And he's writing to help refute false teachers who had come onto the scene who began to diminish the gospel.

They weren't diminishing the gospel by saying the gospel's not true.

They weren't saying that the gospel wasn't good, they weren't saying that the gospel wasn't real.

What they were saying was, hey, Jesus is great.

We're all about Jesus.

But I just want you to know, Jesus is where you start, then you have to add some other things to him.

And what we've discovered in this series so far is this is that when you add something to Jesus, you're not actually adding to Jesus, you're replacing Jesus.

Because Jesus plus nothing equals everything.

And so instead, what we've been encouraged to do is to behold Jesus, to look to Jesus, to see the one who has done all these things for us.

What Paul is gonna do in the beginning of chapter three is he's gonna begin to transition into how we live.

Remember, at the end of chapter two, he began to speak to how even if you do more, even if you feel more, even if you sacrifice more, it isn't gonna change anything in your life.

In fact, verse 23 of chapter two, he says that these things are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

He said, the way that you experience change is by holding on to the head, and the head is Jesus Christ.

So, what I want to do is I want to talk through today uh the result first, and then I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna give you the reason.

I'm gonna read this out of order today for a specific purpose, okay?

I'm gonna give you the result, and then I'm gonna come back and show you the reason.

Let's pick up the text in verse five, and I'm gonna ask if you would to stand in the honor of the reading of God's word together.

Colossians chapter three, let's begin in verse five with the first list.

He says, Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

On account of these, the wrath of God is coming.

In these you two once walked when you were living in them.

But now you must put them all away anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

You may be seated.

I want to show you first the result.

Let me tell you a couple of things about the result.

First thing I want you to see is what has to go.

What has to go?

This is a list of all the things that can no longer be in your life if you're a follower of Jesus.

He gives us two lists.

The first one is private, what you do with your body, what you look at, what you what you can't stop wanting more of.

And the second one is relational, your temper, your mouth, whether you tell the truth.

Verse six is a tie between both of the lists, and he says this summary statement on account of all these things, the wrath of God is coming.

Let me make it clear.

If you're gonna follow Jesus, you can't do this stuff.

Like this can't be what is in your life.

And what I want you to see, particularly in the first list, is that our world is trying to shove these things down our throats.

They are trying to tell us that your sexual choices are not just something that you do, they are who you are.

And Paul says, No, that's not right.

Verse 9 and 10, you have put off the old self and you've put on the new self.

Your identity isn't what you want, your identity is who you belong to.

So if you follow Jesus, I know this may sound crazy, you look differently than everybody else.

Like you actually choose to do things with your body differently than everybody else.

You don't sleep around like everybody else.

You don't watch and look at the same thing as everybody else.

You don't look at things that are unnatural, and even though the world tells you to celebrate them, you don't look at those things and say that they're natural.

Why?

Because ultimately you know we're putting off the ways of the world.

If I'm a follower of Jesus, I should look differently in the way that I view my body and the way that I view everybody else's body.

Look at what he says in the same way.

You don't talk like everybody else.

He mentions a number of things wrath, anger, malice, slammer, and obscene talk from your mouths.

It is jarring to me to see people who, on the one hand, claim a relationship and the authority of Jesus in their lives and then speak with vulgar language to God's people.

Like I just don't understand it.

Like it's amazing to me.

I think some people cuss just a little bit just to try to make sure people know they're not overly spiritual.

Like you just throw a cuss word in there just to kind of like make you keep you honest or something.

Please hear me.

God's word is very clear.

That's not us, that's not what we do.

We don't tell jokes like everybody else, we don't respond in anger the way that everybody else does.

We we don't live this way.

Folks, we know this is clear.

I want you to think about it.

If you have somebody that you know who goes and he gets married, and then three months after his wedding, you see that he is going back to the same bars that he used to go to whenever he was single.

You see that he's texting girls that he used to text whenever he was single.

You see that he's engaging in behavior that he used to do whenever he was single.

I don't have to tell anybody in here that's not okay.

You would look at that and say, dude, you're married.

You don't do that anymore.

We can tell there's a discrepancy between the ring on your finger and the life that you live.

Please hear me.

The same thing should be true if we are believers.

We should not act like everybody else.

We don't do the same things as everybody else.

Why?

Because ultimately we've got the new identity, we've got the new name, we've got the ring that signifies I'm committed, I'm taken by somebody else.

He then moves on and he tells us the flip side what we're to put on.

Verse 12 put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

The second result that I want you to see in this passage of a changed life is not only what has to go, but what has to come.

He tells us what has to come.

I love it.

He starts off there in verse 12 before he hands you a single thing to put on.

You are holy, you are beloved.

Your identity is first, then you put on the clothes.

If you remember, we did this a couple of months ago.

I used illustration of some clothes, and I said there's some things that we're supposed to take off, and there's some things that we're supposed to put on.

The things we're supposed to put on are compassion and kindness and humility and meekness, which we don't hear a lot about.

It's strength under control and patience.

You bear with people, you forgive people, forgiven people forgive people.

He keeps going.

Look in verse 14, and above all these, put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell rich you in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

This is the evidence of a changed life that all of us should want.

Love holding it all together, the peace of Christ calling the shots in your heart, God's word living in you, and everything being done in the name of Jesus.

It's beautiful.

It's a crazy high bar that you will never be able to get to at times.

It feels impossible, but here's what I want you to see.

You don't achieve that life by starting at verse 5 and starting at verse 12.

So many of us have at times given up on the church because we feel like all we get when we go to church is a list of the things you don't do and a list of the things you should do.

And you're judged for it.

I started one wearing one of those little wearable things that kind of tells you all your stats and your tracks and all the different things and things like that.

And basically what I've discovered is I don't ever sleep.

That's basically what it's told me, all right?

And that's frustrating because I thought that uh I knew I didn't have as much sleep as I wanted, but I didn't realize it was as bad as it says that I is.

In fact, it's telling me now about my sleep debt.

So basically, it's like adding it up, and it's telling me recommended bedtimes.

I'm at like 4 p.m.

right now in order to make up my sleep debt.

It's not gonna happen.

And part of me is like, this thing's stupid, I don't even want to wear it anyway, right?

I don't need to know how bad I am.

Some of you think that's exactly what church is.

I'm just gonna get it more of a debt.

All I'm gonna do is go and they're gonna tell me how bad I am.

All they're gonna do is tell me what I've done wrong.

All I'm gonna do is tell me about all the things that I needed to do that I didn't do.

And they're just gonna keep racking up this debt.

And at some point you're like, this thing's dumb, I'm not gonna even go anymore.

What I want you to see in this passage is this verse five and verse 12, and the list that it gives are very important.

But if you start there, you're gonna find yourself just racking up more debt.

Instead, look at what it says.

It says, put on, put to death, therefore, verse five.

Put on then verse 12.

These are referring you back to a greater truth that is the actual reason for why you're supposed to live this way.

I want you to remember this, okay?

It's like the wedding.

I don't act married so that I could be married.

I get married, and then I act in light of the new status and the new identity and the new ring that I now have on my finger.

The same thing is true in your relationship with the Lord.

Here's the main thing I want you to walk away from this message today is this look up before you clean up.

Look up before you clean up.

The whole idea of the series is that we would behold the person of Jesus.

We would see that he is all-sufficient for all things.

He is above all things, he is the image of the invisible God, and in him all things hold together.

The idea is not that we would analyze our lives over and over again and judge ourselves based upon how we did, but instead that we would look at the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, the perfect life of Jesus, and seeing him in all of his glory and all of his grandeur would be the motivation to then put off the things that I need to put off and to put on the things that I need to put on.

Go back to the reason in verse one of Colossians chapter three.

If then you have been raised with Christ, let these words sit over you.

Seek the things that are above.

Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Verses 1 and 2 show us where this new life comes from.

First, it shows us where Christ is.

Where Christ is.

Don't let the little word if at the beginning of the verse throw you.

Paul isn't wondering whether it happened.

The way he writes it assumes that it's true.

So you can almost hear it as saying, Since then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above.

He's saying this.

This isn't a maybe, it's a done deal.

He's telling them about their status.

He's telling them what is now true about them.

They've been raised with Christ, and because they've been raised with Christ, they should seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

I recently got a brand new credit card for uh United Credit Card.

I just kind of started running the numbers and realized that I travel enough and I've had to pay for enough baggage that at the end of the day, I basically would save money if I just paid the annual fee for a higher credit card and got free bags.

And so I was traveling a couple of weeks ago and I went up to the gate and they said it was gonna be$110 for my bags.

And I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, that's not true.

I got status.

And I flashed my card at them.

Those things should be free.

Not only should they be free, I should be the first one to get my bags when I get off of them.

I'm telling you, I paid a lot of money for this status, all right?

And guess what?

My wife, who's with me, she gets status too, and she didn't pay a dime.

I did, all right?

She's with me, folks.

What I need you to know is this you get complimentary status, not because you're a big deal, because he's a big deal.

You're with him.

And so instead of you having to pay the debt that you actually owe, what he's saying is this you need to look to his status.

Where's he at?

He's seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

I'm with him.

I'm riding his coattails.

Look, he paid the debt that I couldn't pay.

And so, therefore, look, I not only get free bags, I get them first in line.

That's what I get.

All because of his status.

Too often we're wondering about our status when we should be focusing on his status.

Psalm chapter 110, verse 1 says, The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

Psalms 110:1

Please hear me.

Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, not wondering whether he has power and authority over all the things that challenge us.

He is comfortable in his seat there.

And the Bible says that we have been united with Christ.

We've experienced his death in our lives, we've experienced his resurrection in our lives, and we get to look up and see him where he is, seated in all of his authority.

And this doesn't mean that we just look up there and avoid life.

Remember, verses five through 17 are real earthy.

It's real practical.

It's saying this.

I look up and see where Jesus is seated, and as a result of that, I don't talk like I don't look at the throne.

I instead talk with respect and honor, showing that because I'm with him, I don't talk like I used to talk.

I don't live like I used to live.

I show compassion and kindness and forgive people who at the end of the day, I don't like to forgive, but you know what?

Because I'm with him where he is, I know all that he's forgiven me, and so therefore I'm gonna forgive you.

I'm not gonna hold you to a standard that I that he never held me to in the first place.

Have you ever recorded a game and somebody walks up to you and they spoil it?

You know what I mean?

Like you're gonna record the game and you're gonna watch it later, and maybe you're out in public, and then all of a sudden somebody walks up to you and is like, dude, did you see that comeback?

Are you kidding me?

And you're like, ah, I was recording the game.

You just blew it for me, right?

And so then when you go back and you actually watch the game, it's a totally different experience.

I mean, you're not nearly as uptight, you're not nearly as worked up, and all that takes place.

Let's say you're watching the game, third quarter, your quarterback drops back, he throws an interception, they run it all the way back, pick six, you go down by two touchdowns.

And at that point, you're like, well, that's kind of interesting, but at the end of the day, I know they're gonna come back.

I don't know how they're gonna come back, I just know they're gonna come back.

I already know the outcome of the game.

And so therefore, you watch the play, but you don't get nearly as worked up.

Why?

Because ultimately you'll know what the scoreboard says.

Verse one and two is the scoreboard.

You're gonna have plays in your life.

The diagnosis is gonna come up.

Your kid is gonna be wayward and they're gonna walk away for a little bit.

You're gonna find marital tension, you're gonna find financial strain, you're gonna have something that's gonna come up.

And if you were to judge your life all based upon that play, you're thinking, man, we are doomed, we're gonna lose.

I don't know what I'm gonna do.

But instead, because I'm looking at the woman who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, here's what I discover.

I know that that play tells me one thing, but I know the scoreboard.

I know what the end's gonna be.

And so, because of that, it allows me to say, Okay, God, I don't like what's happening right now, and I don't know how you're gonna do it, but I know your word says that you're gonna take things that were meant for evil and you're gonna use them for good.

I'm gonna trust, even though I don't like what I'm walking through.

I'm gonna trust because I know the end of the game, I know what the scoreboard says.

Somebody's already told me the outcome that in light of that, I'm gonna trust you even when it's hard.

Even when it's difficult.

Please hear me.

If you keep your eyes focused on the one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, you can accept anything that life gives you.

If you take your eyes onto your circumstances, you're gonna be one who's a Monday morning quarterback judging every play based upon whether you're up or down.

And when God instead of saying, No, he's there.

If then you've been raised, seek the things that are above.

Set your mind on things that are above.

Paul not only tells you though to look up, he tells you why your mind belongs there.

It's not only because Christ is there, this is what's crazy.

Your life is there too.

Look at what it says in verse 3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

The final reason that I want you to see not only where Christ is, but where your life is.

Think about the word hidden in verse 3.

It's in the Greek perfect tense, meaning this.

It's an action that took place in the past that has bearing for the current day, present situation.

He's saying, not only have you been hidden, but you stay hidden.

The word hidden means concealed now, only to be revealed later.

Verse 4 tells us that it when it will be revealed, that is when Jesus comes back.

Think about it like this a past reality, Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, affects my present thinking because of a future promise.

Let me try to show it to you this way.

I want you to think about this reality.

When God comes and he finds us, reality is this is actually way too clean.

We probably should have pictured this with just wrapped up in duct tape all over the place, because when God finds us, all of us are just wrapped in sin.

All of us are sinners, all of us fall short of the glory of God.

And what happens is that when God comes to us, he begins to offer us the gift of his salvation, and by doing so, we become cleansed, we become new.

And so when he finds us, we're we're we're this is where we are.

Now, a lot of times, this is kind of what we think about, okay?

We think about the fact that Christ has done all these wonderful things for us, but here's how we mainly think about it, okay?

Oh, that's amazing.

Christ is somebody who is who died for us, he lived a perfect life, he rose from the dead, he gives us the opportunity by believing in him to have eternal life.

But we don't think about it that much because we're over here living our lives, like we got stuff going on, like we got elections coming up, and our phones and our televisions and our radios are filled with people telling us what to vote for, right?

I mean, we're just constantly getting bombarded, like we got stuff, we got we got we got we got life to live, we've got bills to pay, we've got relationships to deal with, we've got work dynamics that we got to work through, we've got all the different stuff, our schedules are slammed and clear.

So when we go to church, then we think about the fact that, oh yeah, Christ has done all these things.

That's wonderful, that's great.

But at the end of the day, this doesn't typically affect our Tuesday or our Wednesday, because at the end of the day, there's just too much going on.

But here's what the Bible tells us the reality is whenever we give our lives to Jesus Christ, when we receive him into our life, that here's what actually takes place Christ actually begins to live inside of you.

It tells us that in multiple places.

Colossians chapter one, it actually tells us that Jesus Christ, the hope of glory, lives inside of you.

John chapter 14 literally tells us about the gift of the Holy Spirit, which indwells us as believers.

John 14 · chapter mention

It literally says it is the Spirit of Christ.

We are told that the Spirit actually helps guide us, the Spirit comforts us, the Spirit directs us, the Spirit confronts us.

We don't like that part.

But at the end of the day, we're thankful for it because at times when you have that check in your spirit that you're like, I don't think I should be doing this.

And God is using by His Spirit, reminding you of the things of Christ to protect you from doing the things that you should not be doing.

And we know if this was our reality and this is all there was, that in and of itself, the fact that Christ lives inside of us is an amazing thing that changes everything about us.

But what I want you to see, look back again at verse three.

Look at what it says.

When Christ uh it says there, when when Christ, who is your life, excuse me, verse three, for you have died and your life is hidden, look at what it says, with Christ.

And then what does it say?

In God.

Check this out.

This, then, in reality, is who we actually are.

When God looks at us, this is what he sees.

I want you just to think about what the implications of this would be, okay?

Some of you are here and you're thinking, man, I'm just I'm just a failure.

Like, I don't have anything to offer.

Like, I know that God saved me, that's great, but at the end of the day, like, he can't really use me.

I've got a past, I've got shame, I've got things that I don't want anybody to see or to notice.

When when you say that, do you realize what you're saying?

Like, ultimately, what you're saying is this God, you're a failure.

God the Father, you failed.

God the Son, you failed.

God the Spirit, you failed.

Yet when you look at this, how well can you see yourself?

Some of you are judging your worth based upon how you feel, how you performed, how you acted, and all along God is saying, Oh, I know all that kind of stuff, and I'm still gonna hide you in me so that your strength to be able to do the things that I'm asking and calling you to do aren't from you.

It's from me.

What does he say?

In your weakness, that's when I'm strong.

Why?

So that everyone can know the grace of our God.

Folks, that is the beauty of it.

Now, let's think about this.

How crazy is it that some of us will wake up tomorrow if this is our reality and we'll think, man, this day's all about me.

This day's all about me.

I'm gonna make my I'm gonna make money today, I'm gonna crush it, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna advance, I'm gonna make sure my name is known, I'm gonna make sure that I'm seen.

Um I mean, how crazy is it that we live as though somehow the whole world orbits around us?

Yet we do it all the time.

We come over here and we're like, okay, I'll get my little church stuff on the weekend, but I'm gonna live over here like every single thing in all of life is all dependent upon me.

Please hear me.

It ain't about you.

You're an extra in his movie.

And the sooner we realize that it allows us to live out what it says in verse 17, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And so, guess what?

If he's gonna make me in a difficult work situation, then I'm gonna live out that difficult work situation in such a way where God gets glory as of how I relate to that difficult work situation.

When God gives me blessing, I'm gonna live out of that blessing, not saying, Oh yeah, I deserve it.

I'm gonna live out of that blessing, saying, God, thank you for this blessing.

How can I bless somebody else?

What do I need to do?

Because this is my reality, I'm gonna live outside of it.

Let's think about this when the enemy comes up against some of you, and the enemy is real.

He says the Bible tells us that He is it He comes to kill, steal, and destroy.

And there's no question what the enemy wants to do is to try to take all of this apart and to get you separated and think that the devil is right over here, right up next to you, all by yourself.

And here, we need to put on the full armor of God, we need to live vigilant lives, we need to be ready against the attacks of the enemies.

All those things are true, but make no mistake about it.

Do you honestly think the devil has that much control?

Like, are you kidding me?

Do you see all that he's got to go through to get to you?

We should stop living lives of fear and instead live lives of boldness.

Why?

Because at the end of the day, if we've been raised with Christ, then we're with him, we've been hidden with him, with Christ in God.

June 1st, 2002.

Hillary Haynes walked in.

Hillary Kuba walked out.

And ever since then, we've been living out this new reality and this new identity.

Some of you have started your Christian lives at verse 5 and verse 12.

And my encouragement to you today, my challenge to you today, is to begin in verse 1.

Since then, you've been raised with Christ.

Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

And when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Earlier, some of you said, Man, I don't know if this what you're talking about is something that I've ever experienced.

I've never had a wedding date, if you will, where I've had a radical name change, where I've received a new identity.

I want you to know that you can only look up to something that you belong to.

And Paul wrote this to a people who had died and been raised with Christ, and that doesn't happen by just cleaning yourself up or by sitting in a room like this.

It happens when your life gets hidden in his, when he gives you his name, when he changes your identity, when you become his.

Can that be said of you?

Do you have a relationship with Jesus where you've turned from your sins and you've given your life over to him, making him your Lord and your Savior?

If not, I want to invite you to do that right now.

I want to ask that you turn from your way of doing things and turn to him to make a commitment.

Knowing that he's already done all the work for you.

Just pray the simple prayer right where you are.

I know that I'm a sinner.

I believe that you sent your son Jesus to live the perfect life that I couldn't live.

To die on a cross for my sins.

To rise from the dead.

I want him to come into my life to save me, to forgive me.

And I want to take on his identity.

I want to ask you to do something bold.

You believe in public next steps here at the United City.

We're all gonna stand, and if you just prayed that prayer with me, we're gonna have some folks at the front of the church, we're gonna have some folks at the bottom of the risers.

I'm gonna ask that no one be leaving unless you're making a decision.

Would you come?

Tell us about your decision.

Others of you need to come and join United City Church.

God's leading you to make this your church home.

Would you come and lead the way?

Maybe others of you need to come and be baptized.

This is your public next step of obedience.

Maybe you need to get your baptism on the right side of your salvation.

You baptized whenever you were younger.

It was a significant moment in your life, but the Bible is very clear: baptism is an outward response to an inward change.

If you need to get your baptism on the right side of your salvation, you come.

Maybe others of you need prayer today.

Maybe you're struggling through this.

You run to verse 5, you run to verse 12.

You've measured up and you think that you're on some sort of scale as to whether God's pleased with you or not.

You've got some debt that seems like it keeps going.

Please hear me today.

What you need to do is you need to come back to Jesus and realize He already paid your debt.

Man, what an amazing time that we had today.

Hey, if you know of someone that needs to hear this message, we'd love for you to share that on socials.

We'd love for you to actually go and check out our socials so you can stay up to date on everything happening in the life of United City.

And if you need to take the next step, we'd love to help you do that as well.

Love you guys so much, and we'll see you next week.